Mass graves in Maribor

Mass graves in Maribor were created in Maribor, Slovenia, during and after the Second World War. The three known mass graves in Maribor itself and six additional mass graves in the immediate vicinity include some of the largest mass graves in Europe, and they have been compared to the Killing Fields in Cambodia.[1][2][3]

Background

By the end of the war, Maribor was the most destroyed and devastated major town in Yugoslavia.[4] The remaining German-speaking population, except those that had actively collaborated with the resistance during the war, was summarily expelled following the end of the war in 1945. At the same time, Croatian Home Guard members and their relatives trying to escape from Yugoslavia were massacred by the Yugoslav Army and buried in mass graves.

List of mass graves

Maribor is the site of several known mass graves associated with the Second World War:

Notes

  1. "Forgotten Victims: Slovenian Mass Grave Could Be Europe's Killing Fields." 2007. Spiegel (21 August).
  2. "Slovenia opens WW2 mass graves - along with old wounds." 2007. Radio Prague (30 November).
  3. Ferenc, Mitja. 2012. "Independent Slovenia and Concealed Mass Graves." In Janez Juhant & Bojan Žalec (eds.), Reconciliation: The Way of Healing and Growth, pp. 233–240. Zurich: Lit Verlag, p. 236.
  4. http://www.zveza-msdbranik.si/vsebina/1/30/Po_2._svetovni_vojni.html
  5. Spodnje Radvanje Mass Grave on Geopedia (Slovene)
  6. Pond Mass Grave on Geopedia (Slovene)
  7. Tezno Woods 1 Mass Grave on Geopedia (Slovene)
  8. Corsellis, Johnn & Marcus Ferrar. 2005. Slovenia, 1945: Memories of Death and Survival After World War II. London: I.B. Tauris, p. 202.

Coordinates: 46°33′44.94″N 15°38′38.31″E / 46.5624833°N 15.6439750°E / 46.5624833; 15.6439750

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